Dry conditions and low humidity fueled brush fires in this same area last week. But this time firefighters were also battling gusting winds.

“Well, the wind feeds it, so it spreads it faster than we can get on top of it,” Ryan Barrow, chief of the Harford County Volunteer Fire Department, said.

In all those, some 60 homes along the fire line were in danger.

“The cops came up and told me they were going to evacuate everybody,” Larry Higgins said.

Residents were forced to leave as firefighters battled what amounted to a four-alarm fire, bringing in help from DNR and surrounding counties.

“They evacuated our whole street,” John Kauffman said.

Worried homeowners could only wait while the firefighters ran hoses and dug trenches to keep the fire from spreading.

“Our cat’s in here and I had my boys with me and they were like, ‘What about Jada?'” Kauffman said.

In all, the fire scorched 18 acres of woods before it was brought under control. Three hours after the evacuations began, residents were allowed to return to their homes, all of them spared from damage.

Firefighters are going to be monitoring that fire over the next few days. That’s how long residents in the area can expect to smell smoke.